Make you feel special
by Nessy09
Summary: One-Shot. Spending Christmas at Hogwarts with his friends gone, Neville misses the DA and how connected he had felt.


A/N: I don't own anything. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I originally intended this for a Christmas Challenge, but never got farther than this one One-Shot.

Make you feel special

It was snowy outside and most of the other students had already left for the holidays, but his grandmother was away at his great-uncle Algie's and he really didn't want to go. Christmas made him sad, because all his friends used to spend it with their parents and even Harry had the Weasleys. He had only his Granny, whom he was grateful for, but it wasn't really the same with her. Neville sat in the library reading about Herbology, but decided it were the holidays after all and he really wasn't going to spend his time studying. He made his way through the corridors without knowing, where he was headed. It wasn't uncommon that Neville was bored. Especially not when he was one of the few students who had decided to spend their holidays at Hogwarts. He thought about last year, when he and the others from Dumbledore's Army had been sneaking around the corridors to avoid Filch, Umbridge and those filthy Slyhterins. The DA had been one of the best things happening to him. He had finally been accepted by his house and made so many new friends. He smiled while thinking about it, then he decided to go down to the Room of Requirement and visit the old training room again. Just for the memories sake and he didn't have something else to do any way.

No one saw him, when he made his way there. The room was exactly like he remembered it. The books on the walls and the mirrors and the picture from the old Order members and from Cedric Diggory. The emptiness made it uncomfortable though. He had never been all alone in this room and he felt like someone watched him. Neville shrugged it off and went over to take a closer look at the picture of the Order. There they were, his parents. They smiled up at him and they were... themselves. It didn't make him sad, it just made him so mad at this bitch Lestrange. She was another reason why he had to be stronger and why he couldn't just leave the DA behind. He had to kill her, he had to avenge them.

"Neville?"

He jumped at her voice and turned around just to see Luna standing in a corner of the room. Had she been there the whole time? His heart was still racing because of the shock although he now saw it was just her. She was looking at him in this odd way like she wasn't from this world and everything was new to her and her voice was dreamy and thick. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you", she added with a slight smile and made her way over to him.

"What were you doing here, Luna?"

"Looking for Nargels, but they seem to have gone from here."

He nodded, what else was she supposed to do. She believed in all this stuff and that was okay though none of them really understood what she was talking about.

"Do you miss them more now that Christmas is near?", she asked pointing at the picture of his parents. Neville had hoped she wouldn't have noticed, but she was more observing than one would think.

"A bit. Mostly I was just bored."

"No, you miss the DA." It wasn't even a question and he was slightly taken aback that she was able to read him like that. She shrugged as if it hadn't been a big deal.

"I do, too. I felt accepted." She had this way of talking about this kind of things that amazed him. It was as if she was okay with the way she was treated by the other students. Maybe she really was, but how could she? It was terrible and he was sure it hurt. It hurt him, when the others looked down on him.

"Yeah", he murmured and added "but there's no need for the DA now."

"Don't just repeat words, Neville. Don't you know some reasons why the DA would be a good idea?"

Yes he did. He blushed because she had caught him at being untrue to himself, but didn't answer. He felt that most of his reasons were too selfish to say out loud.

"I liked to be around you guys", she added for him.

"Me too."

"You know, Neville, you're worth a lot more than you think."

He blushed even harder and lowered his gaze. He had heard it before, but not from Luna and not in a huge empty room. Before he knew what was happening, Luna had put her hands on his shoulders, stood on tiptoes and kissed him. It was odd. He had never been kissed before and out of all the girls he had never thought of Luna in this way. He had had a crush on Ginny and on Hermione and he had fantasized about kissing them, but this was so different. It wasn't even a real kiss. She had merely brushed her lips lightly against his. Staring at her in disbelief he took a step back. "Wh-wh-what was...that for?", he stammered.

She blushed now, too, but smiled nevertheless. "I always wanted to do that", she admitted. "I wanted you to feel special." He didn't really understand, but somehow she had succeeded. He felt special and happy. He didn't even like her like that and somehow he felt, neither did she, but they had just shared their first kiss and it felt good. It felt right. They were the two outcasts and the two of them being together made complete sense. "Thanks", he said softly, feeling stupid as he did. Instead he gently cupped her face with his hands and leaned down to press his lips against hers. They were so soft and warm. She tasted like pudding and cinnamon and he thought that maybe he could fall for her after all. Luna kissed him back putting her arms around him and they enjoyed the warmth and the closeness of each other.

However they had to part for air and let go of each other. "That was nice", said Luna in her casual though dreamy voice and made her way for the door. This took Neville by surprise. Was she just going to leave now? It seemed odd to him, but on the other hand this was Luna. "See you around, Neville", she called back before leaving. He touched his fingers to his lips as to make sure the kiss really happened and caught a glance at his dumbfounded expression in the mirror.

In the following weeks he had meant to talk to her about the incident in the Room of Requirements, but he could never catch her at a good moment to do so. He even had wanted to do it again, but he never could bring up the courage to ask her for a moment to talk and she never spoke of it herself. When they finally were alone for another time it was the first of September and so much had happened in between that the kiss was forgotten and never mentioned again.


End file.
